Casebook Interlude: A Moment Of Calm
by TalepieceUK
Summary: From The Casebook Of Madame Vastra. Madame Vastra and Jenny Flint enjoy a well deserved moment of peace.


TITLE: A Moment Of Calm  
AUTHOR: Talepiece  
RATING: 12 cert.  
PAIRING: Vastra/Jenny  
SERIES: The Casebook Of Madame Vastra  
CONTINUITY: An interlude between the Christmas 2015 story and the next volume in 2016.  
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, please don't sue me.  
CREDITS: This isn't based on anything but my sappy imaginings.  
NOTE: So this is the little bit of nonsense that I promised in the notes of the Christmas story. Thanks again for all the lovely comments and for sticking with the Casebook series through 2015. Happy New Year!  
POSTED: December 2015

* * *

Jenny Flint sucked at the end of her fountain pen and considered how best to describe the past few weeks and months. It was always hard to know what she could tell her friend Alice but now it felt impossible. How could you explain being gored by a fleshy pink blob... saved by a big white room... thrown into the end of some future planet's world... and coming back via New York and a mad art collector with a very odd sense of his own importance? And everyone else's safety come to that.

She smiled around the pen as her companion and colleague Madame Vastra gave a loud grunt of annoyance. She was out in the hallway and once more in mortal combat with the fallen needles of a Christmas Tree. She had taken Victoria and Albert's names in vain many a time and was now cursing Mother Nature and all things living. The poor love had been horrified to walk through the door of their home on Paternoster Row to find a huge tree awaiting her. She had, after all, expressly banned the things from their abode two Christmases before.

Only a very sharp elbow to Vastra's side had stopped a quite spectacular outburst. Jenny had seen the pleased-as-punch looks on Mosa and Matilda's faces waver as Vastra's green skin grew darker. Just in time, Jenny had launched into lavish praise and Vastra had been forced to agree. She was joined by the Little Priest, as Vastra insisted on referring to him, in this praise and the little girl was quite bowled over by it all.

At least the amendments to Vastra's garden room had calmed her ire. Miss Peri really had done a wonderful job at turning their limp and bedraggled greenery into a riot of foliage. It was perfect for her lover and the scowl had quickly turned to the most beautiful smile that Jenny had ever seen. How Miss Peri had done it she couldn't imagine but Vastra had said something about the Tardis and hydro-something-or-others and left it at that. There were even neatly written instructions left behind for them. The guidance laid out so carefully that Vastra and Jenny might manage to keep the plants alive.

Jenny had hoped the room might keep Vastra away from the wilting tree now that Christmas was over but alas not. More dark muttering came from the hall and Jenny shook her head indulgently.

'Christmas really is a funny thing in this house,' Jenny wrote without thinking, 'Madame follows her own faith, as it were, and you know what I think about it all. Not that we don't like the fripperies and food but the rest of its another thing. And we had Archie and Mosa here with Matilda. Mosa's like Madame, what with her own people's beliefs but Matilda just sees the magic of it. And the gifts of course. She saw quite a lot of gifts. Archie was determined to make it all wonderful for his family, seeing himself as the Man Of The House no doubt. Not sure what Vastra might think of that but I don't know that she even realised.'

Jenny gave a laugh at the thought of their funny little family all together. 'And we had a Padre with us too, for some of the time at least. We met him on the ship back from New York (I'll get to that in a minute) and thought he was a harmless sort of a chap. Well, Alice, I can tell you that he lead us a merry chase when it came to it and proved himself quite astute, if not downright cunning in the end. He may be the only person in this world to have bested both Flambeau (one of the world's greatest criminals) and Madame Vastra, the Great Detective herself. I can only imagine what Mr Flambeau made of it all but I know exactly what Madame Vastra did.

'We finally arrived back after quite a trip. The first part I can't say too much about I'm afraid, as it had to do with a case at first and then something else that I wouldn't know how to describe. Let's just say that it was more than enough excitement to last the next year and a few beyond. Then we found ourselves in New York and what a city that is. After we'd dealt with a bit of bother concerning a really ugly little statue and the collector who wanted it, we had a chance to see a bit of the place.'

Jenny wrote for a few minutes, describing the latter part of their stay and the city itself. Then she paused once more, sucking her pen as she thought back over their recent travels. What an odd, mixed up sort of year it had been. Any year when you almost died - perhaps even did die - could not be looked upon without some concern. But she hadn't - or she had and she'd come back from the dead - so that at least was a boon. Jenny laughed again; what sort of a life must you lead to have such thoughts?

"My dear, are you quite well?"

Jenny started from her seat, almost swallowing the pen in fright. Vastra was at her side immediately and eased the implement from her grasp, setting it and the letter on a nearby table as she perched on the arm of Jenny's chair.

"Sorry Madame, I was miles away."

"In New York? Or further afield?"

"All over really," Jenny stretched up and Vastra met her, dropping a kiss to her lover's lips. "I'm trying to write to Alice so it can go in the post. You never know how long it'll take to Wales, especially at this time of year."

"But how does one describe our recent adventures to someone who is," Vastra hesitated, "not we."

"Not we," Jenny hugged Vastra, "I like that. Now," she looked up with an impish grin, "how goes the battle of the pine needles?"

Vastra growled deep in her throat and Jenny felt the rumbling beneath her arms, "I would not wish to harm the child, my dear, but I would wish to remove all such flora from this planet."

Jenny hugged her harder, burying her laughter in Vastra's bosom. They remained entwined until their relative positions and her previous labours combined to force Vastra to shift uncomfortably. Jenny let her go and looked up to see the twinge of pain in those familiar eyes.

"You've done yourself a mischief, Madame," she tutted, "I do wish you'd let me deal with the tree. It's nothing personal, you know."

Another growl but Vastra acquiesced and settled properly into the chair at Jenny's bidding. She watched as Jenny waved her to stay and disappeared into the hallway. Their life could be so hard on her companion and yet there was rarely a moment when Jenny did not appear to treasure their being together. Vastra admired the woman as well as loving her deeply. Really, if these apes weren't so backwards in their beliefs she would marry her on the instant. After all, had it not been foretold by the Christmas Pudding these two years past?

Jenny returned carrying a tray laden with left over treats from the festive season and a pot of tea freshly made. She took the seat next to Vastra and set about 'being mother' while Vastra inhaled the familiar scents of her lover and that most British of foreign beverages. What a contradiction these creatures were and none more so than those who lived on this sceptred isle of theirs.

Vastra took the offered cup gratefully and eased back into the large armchair. The fire burned fiercely and the two women sat in a companionable silence as they sipped their tea and Jenny munched her way through a plate of confectionery. It was wonderful to be home and more wonderful still to be alone for the first time in so long.

They should enjoy their peace and quiet while it lasted, Vastra decided with a sigh of pleasure. She had been concerned that their extended absence might lead potential clients to believe that they were no-longer in business. Now it did not seem to matter so much. They could afford to take another few weeks to rest and recuperate from their, as Jenny would have it, gallivanting about all over the place. A few words to a certain sort of people from herself and Master Archie would renew their workload when the time was right for such things.

"My dear, I believe we might get used to this," Vastra said and Jenny smiled her agreement around a mouthful of chocolate.

And then, as it so often did at this particular house on Paternoster Row, the doorbell rang.


End file.
